"Your herbs are rare treasures. We lost at least a thousand plants. At ten top-grade spirit stones per plant, that’s ten thousand top-grade spirit stones. You four split it. Each pays two thousand five hundred. I’m very reasonable. I didn’t make things hard for you. I didn’t even charge interest." Zhu Yanyi looked like she was too kind, almost embarrassed.
The man Zhu Yanyi had hit rubbed her panda eyes. She endured the mental pain from the beating. She wanted to faint. Two thousand five hundred top-grade spirit stones? That was twenty-five thousand high-grade, two hundred fifty thousand mid-grade, or two and a half million low-grade. Selling herself wouldn’t cover it.
"Auntie, please give a discount. Selling me won’t get that many stones," he begged quickly.
Hearing this, Zhu Yanyi knew she was flexible. But she didn’t forget what she did. She said directly, "If you don’t have the money, get your relatives to redeem you. Don’t worry. We are reasonable. We aren’t bandits or robbers. We are civilized. I’ll give you a chance to message your family and friends. Let them bring stones to redeem you. Rest assured, it’s safe here. We won’t kill you to silence you."
Not killing is one thing, but this auntie still won’t go easy on you, the man thought.
To go back safely, he took out his communication token to contact someone.
Soon, people arrived. One was Elder Wu. The other two were teachers from Shangmo Academy leading the exchange students.
When they arrived, Zhu Yanyi and her friends were each slowly eating an apple. The beaten men stood aside, swallowing hard. The fruit scent made them drool. They could only watch Zhu Yanyi’s group eat leisurely. They could only smell the air and swallow their saliva.
"Zhu Yanyi, you’re back?" Elder Wu asked curiously.
"Hi, Elder Wu. Long time no see. Did you miss us? You came so urgently. Did you miss me? But I’m my husband’s woman. You can’t have a crush on me," Zhu Yanyi said with a roguish look. Her tone was learned from Yan Aohan. It was eighty percent like him.
Elder Wu laughed and sighed. "What are you saying, girl? If you say this, will I have face left?"
"So Elder Wu still has face?" Mi Xiao came over curiously. She reached out to pinch her face. She wasn’t afraid because she was an elder.
"Stop messing around. You’re all so mischievous. The Dean spoils you," Elder Wu scolded with a smile.
"Ancestor, Ancestor, save me!" The man Zhu Yanyi had hit crawled over to Elder Wu.
Elder Wu was stunned. Then he said, "Wu Xiong, why are you like this?"
"Ancestor, save me. I don’t want to be beaten to death," Wu Xiong begged repeatedly. He sounded terrified.
Zhu Yanyi raised an eyebrow. "Elder Wu knows this thief?"
"Thief?" Elder Wu felt a bad premonition. Something seemed about to happen.
Zhu Yanyi nodded slightly. "Yes. This thief is a herb thief. She brought people. While I, Senior Brother Sikong, Senior Brother Yun Fei, and Senior Brother Tian Yun were away, they stole our rare herbs from our field. I estimated the number. About thousands of plants. This doesn’t include the ones trampled and killed." Zhu Yanyi pointed to the field. "Look there. See the situation."
Elder Wu looked at the field. Anger rose in his heart. Even though Wu Xiong was from his clan, he was very angry. As a doctor, he cared most about herbs. Even if the "rare" herbs were a pretext, the herbs were real. Seeing the trampled marks and destroyed plants, his anger surged. He turned to Wu Xiong. "You trampled these herbs?"
"We didn’t know anyone was here," Wu Xiong argued.
"If there are herbs in the field, it belongs to someone. Unowned land is barren and uncultivated. You wouldn’t not know this. Do you think I’m a fool?" Elder Wu looked at Wu Xiong. "And you aren’t a doctor. Why do you need herbs?"
Wu Xiong sensed Elder Wu’s anger. He looked at him timidly. "Don’t look at me. Tell me, why do you need herbs?"
"I heard Saint Academy’s herbs are good. I promised to bring some back for my seniors studying alchemy when we return," Wu Xiong said quietly.
"Good. Very good." Elder Wu was so angry he couldn’t speak. "As an exchange student, you broke the rules. Most importantly, you destroyed the herb field. Which academy would dare take a student like you?"
"Elder Wu, you should discuss teaching matters back home," Zhu Yanyi raised an eyebrow. She pointed at Wu Xiong. "Let’s handle her matter first."
"Right. So asking for compensation isn’t a big deal, is it?" Zhu Yanyi smiled.
"It’s not a big deal. They should indeed compensate you," Elder Wu said. He always supported reason, not relatives. Wu Xiong was wrong. As an elder of Saint Academy, he would punish him even if he were his own son.
"I estimated our loss. Ten thousand top-grade spirit stones. There are four of them. They split it evenly. Two thousand five hundred each. I’m always reasonable. I never make things hard for people," Zhu Yanyi said calmly to Elder Wu. She acted very calm about the extortion.
She knew Elder Wu saw the herbs weren’t rare. But she said they were rare. She also didn’t count the trampled ones. So they couldn’t say the stolen herbs weren’t rare.
Zhu Yanyi’s behavior reminded Elder Wu of a past incident. After shopping, a unlucky person bullied them. They bullied her back. She paid many spirit stones. They thought Zhu Yanyi was clever then. Now it happened to her. She laughed and sighed.